Sampling the Season at Melissa’s Produce
I’ve long followed Melissa’s Produce on Instagram and their posts are simply mouthwatering. From exotic fruit to heirloom vegetables they showcase an array of delicious bites. So when they invited me to sample their seasonal offerings at their headquarters in Vernon I was over the moon. Finally, I would get to experience first hand the delicious treats they showcase.
We started off with an array of this season’s fresh fruit – the Ojai Pixie, strawberry papaya, Ruby Tango tangerines and Australian mango. Oh wow! Each fruit was sweet and packed with flavor. The Ruby Tango tangerine is a brand new variety. It resembles a blood orange and has a slight raspberry flavor. The Australian mango is brand new to the US and is out of this world. It has a subtle sweet flavor and lacks the stringiness of the mangoes I’m used to. It was in very limited supply this year and is already sold out. I can’t wait until 2017!
I’m a big fan of the sweet pepper and love to eat it right out of the bag. Melissa’s put a whole new spin on one of my favorite treats. They took the pepper, filled it with pineapple and dragon fruit and charred it. That’s it. No added sauces or sweeteners. It was a revelation and one of my favorite tastes of the afternoon.
We also enjoyed a sampling of three veggies that were cooked simply yet effectively. The shisito peppers were pan seared and we dipped them in lemon soy sauce. Both the brussel sprouts and Dutch yellow potatoes were roasted with a light seasoning. All were quite delicious.
With all the sampling we needed something to quench our thirst. Luckily, we had turmeric lemonade and fresh coconut water. I was familiar with turmeric thanks to the 14 day detox I tried awhile back but had never had it with lemonade. It was quite tasty and I must admit I drank more than a few glassfuls. Ordinarily, I don’t like coconut water but when extracted from Melissa’s sweet young coconuts I found it to be quite flavorful.
Our main entree was a gumbo topped with fresh okra. Now, I love a good gumbo and Melissa’s did not disappoint. Filled with flavor and spice it was a hearty main course.
We couldn’t leave without dessert so we enjoyed chocolate dipped kumquats and berry filled crepes. I don’t ordinarily care for kumquats but now that I know I can dip them in chocolate I may be eating a whole lot more of them!
It was a true delight to visit the headquarters of Melissa’s Produce and sample their seasonal bounty. It’s given me something to look forward to when going grocery shopping!